A plug-in electric vehicle such as a battery electric vehicle (BEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), and the like includes a traction battery configured to supply electrical energy to propel the vehicle. The vehicle is configured to enable the battery to be charged with electrical energy from an external electrical grid during a charging operation. The vehicle is equipped with a battery charger having an associated receptacle into which an external power supply cord connected to a wall-outlet can be plugged for charging the battery. As a plug-in vehicle depends on being charged via external charging infrastructure, a concern is that the vehicle and/or the charging infrastructure including the cord set can be damaged in the event of a drive away while the cord set is attached to the vehicle.